PM to Left: Withdraw support if you want to

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has dared the crucial Left allies to withdraw their support to his government on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

"I told them (Left parties) that it is not possible to renegotiate the deal. It is an honourable deal, the Cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it. I told them to do whatever they want to do, if they want to withdraw support, so be it...," he told the Kolkata-based daily The Telegraph in an interview.

The Prime Minister's challenge to the Left parties, whose 64 members in Lok Sabha provide a crucial make-or-break support to the UPA government, comes in the context of strong statements made by CPI-M leader Prakash Karat and CPI's AB Bardhan.

The Left leaders had warned that the government may have to pay a "heavy price" if it went ahead with the nuclear deal with the US.

The paper quoted the Prime Minister as saying he was "not angry but anguished" at the harsh tone of Left's reaction and made it clear that the UPA-Left relationship could not be a one-sided affair. "I don't get angry. They are our colleagues and we have to work with them. But they also have to learn to work with us."

Singh, who had spoken to the Left leaders on Tuesday night after their rejection of the nuclear deal, said there was no immediate response by the Left leaders on what he had told them.

"They haven't thought it through." The Prime Minister felt that the Left had a flawed understanding of the 123 Agreement.

Singh said the deal was an honourable one which enlarged India's development options particularly in regard to energy security and environmental protection and doesn't in any way affect our ability to pursue our nuclear weapons programme.

"We have not surrendered an iota of our freedom in this regard," the prime minister said. Quoting government's principal scientific adviser and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission R Chidambaram, the prime minister said all three conditions "" that there would be no effect on our strategic programme, no deceleration in our three-stage nuclear power programme and no effect on advanced Research and Development programmes "" have been met.

To a question on why the Left was objecting to the deal, Singh told the daily "I don't know "" they seem to have a problem with the US.

" When the mediapersons covering Vice-President Mohd Hamid Ansari's swearing-in function today asked the PM whether the country was heading for snap poll following the Left parties rejection of the deal, Manmohan said, "Why do you think so? All these problems can be resolved and will be resolved amicably."